Master List of Logical Fallacies
A cool guide for identifying common logical fallacies
ELI5 What is a logical fallacy?
A logical fallacy is a failed attempt at using logic. Logic is kind of like math in that it has rules. If you said that 2+2=5, you would have made an error. A logical fallacy is similar to this in that you can attempt to put together some facts and use a faulty mechanism for reasoning to lead you to a conclusion that may or may not be the right one.
A very common one is the use of "ad hominem" attacks. An example would be if you and I were having a disagreement about which of two trees was taller and then to win the argument I called you stupid and therefore wrong. Whether you're stupid or not has nothing to do with the height of the trees. It may in fact be the case that you are stupid and made a mistake, but you could just as easily be stupid and get the right answer. In any case, the only thing that matters in this case is which tree is taller. It sounds ridiculous, but if you pay attention, you'll see this kind of thing is very common.
There are many other types of fallacies. Here are some more examples that are better than the one I just provided.
Edit: Tweaked the example based on suggestions from others.
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